Weekend Event Planner

College Football Playoff festivities top best weekend events in Dallas

The events surrounding the first-ever College Football Playoff championship game dominate the landscape this weekend — and they appeal even to those who don't like sports. Before Oregon faces off against Ohio State at AT&T Stadium on Monday night, you can get in the mood with a wide variety of activities.

Below are the best options for your precious free time Thursday through Sunday. Don't like what you see? Lucky for you, we have a much longer list of the city's best events.

Thursday, January 8

Undermain Theatre presents The Flick
A play about three workers at a movie theater may seem bland on the surface, but it won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, so it's a must-see. Undermain Theatre presents the regional premiere of The Flick, featuring three people whose battles and heartbreaks are more compelling than any movie at their theater. The play runs through January 31.

Luke Wade in concert with Mark Allan Attwood
It was a surprise that Luke Wade didn't make the finals during the latest season of The Voice, but as he told us at the beginning of his ride, his goal wasn't to win the show, but to win over America. You can be witness to the next phase of his career at this concert at Trees, which also features Mark Allan Attwood as opening act.

Friday, January 9

College Football Playoff presents Playoff Fan Central
Just as it did last year for the Men's Final Four, Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas plays host to a festival featuring a slew of family-friendly activities surrounding the College Football Playoff. Think mini pep rallies featuring the bands, cheerleaders and mascots from both Oregon and Ohio State; interactive games; autograph sessions; exhibits and more. The festival runs every day through Sunday.

CMT Ultimate Kickoff Party Live from the College Football Playoff National Championship
If you need another reason to go to Playoff Fan Central on Friday, attendees are the only people with access to this all-star country concert. It's strictly first-come, first served in Hall B to see acts like Toby Keith, Lady Antebellum, Big & Rich, Brett Eldredge and others. Plus, it doesn't cost extra, as it's free for anyone already at Playoff Fan Central.

Saturday, January 10

College Football Playoff presents Extra Yard 5k
If you haven't already secured your tickets for the championship game on Monday and consider yourself a skilled runner, you might want to try the Extra Yard 5k at Fair Park. The overall male and female winners win one pair of tickets each, as does the winner of a drawing to which every runner receives one entry.

Shen Yun 2015
The 2015 season at AT&T Performing Arts Center begins with a return visit from this Chinese dance and music troupe. The production that features nearly 100 artists, 400 costumes, and the only orchestra in the world featuring both classical Western and Chinese instruments brings 5,000 years of Chinese history to life. It plays at Winspear Opera House Thursday through Sunday.

AT&T Playoff Playlist Live! with Lenny Kravitz
The Dallas-Fort Worth area has seen more of Lenny Kravitz in Hunger Games movies than onstage lately, but the rocker makes his first local appearance in nearly three years as part of the College Football Playoff festivities. He headlines this concert at American Airlines Center, with Keri Hilson and Vintage Trouble as opening acts.

Scotty McCreery in concert
It hasn't exactly been a booming three years for Scotty McCreery since he won American Idol back in 2011, but he's carved out a nice career in the friendly world of country music. He plays a late-night show at Billy Bob's Texas in support of his 2013 album, See You Tonight.

Sunday, January 11

Dallas Cowboys vs. Green Bay Packers watch party
The Dallas Cowboys are in the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 2009 thanks to ~~the help of the refs~~ the stellar play of Tony Romo, Dez Bryant, DeMarco Murray and others. Now they head to the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field to take on Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers, and you can support them with a few hundred of your fellow fans at this free watch party at the Granada Theater.

AT&T Playoff Playlist Live! with Sting
If the smooth stylings of Sting are more your speed, you can catch the former Police frontman as the headliner of the second College Football Playoff concert at American Airlines Center, with Echosmith, known for their hit "Cool Kids," as the opening act. If you want to attend both concerts, you can buy a two-day pass right here.

Sting is the headliner for the AT&T Playoff Playlist Live! concert on January 11 at American Airlines Center.

Photo by Chad Wadsworth

Sting is the headliner for the AT&T Playoff Playlist Live! concert on January 11 at American Airlines Center.

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Movie Review

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is better than the first but not by much

Blumhouse

Five Nights at Freddy's 2

Blumhouse Productions first made their name with the Paranormal Activity series, establishing themselves as a leader in the horror genre thanks to their relatively cheap yet effective movies. In recent years, they’ve added on “soft” horror films likeM3GAN and Five Nights at Freddy’s to draw in a younger audience, with both films becoming so successful that each was quickly given a sequel.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 finds Mike (Josh Hutcherson) and his sister Abby (Piper Rubio) still recovering from the events of the first film, with Abby particularly missing her “friends.” Those friends just so happen to be the souls of murdered children who inhabit animatronic characters at the long-defunct Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, children who were abducted and killed by William Afton (Matthew Lillard).

A new threat emerges at another Freddy Fazbear’s location in the form of Charlotte, another murdered child who inhabits a creepy large marionette. Mike, distracted by a possible romance with Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail), fails to keep track of Abby, who makes her way to the old pizzeria and inadvertently unleashes Charlotte and her minions on the surrounding town.

Directed by Emma Tammi and written by Scott Cawthon (who also created the video game on which the series is based), the film tries to mix together goofy elements with intense scenes. One particular sequence, in which the security guard for Freddy Fazbear’s lets a group of ghost hunters onto the property, toes the line between soft and hard horror. That and a few others show the potential that the filmmakers had if they had stuck to their guns.

Unfortunately, more often than not they either soft-pedal things that would normally be horrific, or can’t figure out how to properly stage scenes. The sight of animatronic robots wreaking havoc is one that is simultaneously frightening and laughable, and the filmmakers never seem to find the right balance in tone. Every step in the direction of making a truly scary horror film is undercut by another in which the robots fail to live up to their promise.

It doesn’t help that Cawthon gives the cast some extremely wooden dialogue, lines that none of the actors can elevate. What may work in a video game format comes off as stilted when said by actors in a live-action film. The story also loses momentum quickly after the first half hour or so, with Cawthon seemingly content to just have characters move from place to place with no sense of connection between any of the scenes.

Hutcherson (The Hunger Games series), after being the true lead of the first film, is given very little to do in this film, and his effort is equal to his character’s arc. The same goes for Lail, whose character seems to be shoehorned into the story. Rubio is called upon to carry the load for a lot of the movie, and the teenager is not quite up to the task. A brief appearance by Skeet Ulrich seems to be a blatant appeal to Scream fans, but he and Lillard only underscore how limited this film is compared to that franchise.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is better than the first film, but not by much. The filmmakers do a decent job of making the new marionette character into a great villain, but they fail to capitalize on its inherent creepiness. Instead, they fall back on less effective elements, ensuring that the film will be forgettable for anyone other than hardcore Freddy fans.

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Five Nights at Freddy's 2 opens in theaters on December 5.

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